"Gumpert successfully captures a significant shift in the way leading entrepreneurs are launching companies and attracting investors."John R. Thorne, Morgenthaler Professor of Entrepreneurship, Carnegie Mellon University
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| What's New at Lauson? |
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Burn Your Business Plan!
Table of Contents
| Acknowledgments | |
| Introduction | |
| Investor Relations for Entrepreneurs | |
PART I | |
| Chapter 1 | |
| Raising Money in an Age of High Anxiety: Why Investors Have Business Plan Phobia | |
| The Real World | |
| The Underlying Issues | |
| Corrupted Process | |
| Some Examples | |
| The Messages | |
| Costly Implications | |
| Chapter 2 | |
| Ask the Wrong Question and You'll Get the Wrong Answer--Where We've Gone Wrong in Thinking About Business Plans | |
| If it Seems too Good to be True | |
| So Why Do We Keep Doing Business Plans? | |
| Why We do It | |
| What's the Problem? | |
Chapter 3 | |
| Is Planning a Useful Exercise? What the Research Shows | |
| Some Scary Implications | |
| Surprising Research Results | |
| Whatís the Problem? | |
| Learning from Celebrities | |
PART II | |
| Chapter 4 | |
| Look Inward: What Is Your Startup Karma? | |
| For Love or Money? | |
| Karma and Your Business | |
| Questions to Ask Yourself | |
| What Investors Really Want to Know | |
| The Entire Package | |
Chapter 5 | |
| The Presentation: Giving Form to Your Ideas | |
| Getting Ready | |
| Twelve Questions | |
| Recycling Opportunity | |
Chapter 6 | |
| Compose a Synopsis | |
| An Executive Summary | |
| A Query Letter | |
| Bringing the Two Together | |
| An Example | |
| Your Synopsis | |
Chapter 7 | |
| Develop Meaningful and Hard-Hitting Financials | |
| The Financial Package | |
| Putting It Together | |
| Example Financial Documents | |
Chapter 8 | |
| Build a Web Site That Demonstrates Your Business Model | |
| Typical Scenarios | |
| What Every Web Site Must Accomplish | |
| What You Don't Want from a Web Site | |
| Putting It All Together | |
Chapter 9 | |
| Use Publicity to Attract Investor Attention | |
| The Power of Publicity | |
| Making Publicity Happen | |
| Leverage Your Success | |
| How Should You Handle the PR Function Ongoing? | |
Chapter 10 | |
| Touch the Marketplace | |
| Why Demonstrating Demand Is So Important | |
| Ten Ways to Demonstrate Demand | |
| Turning Investors' Heads | |
PART III | |
| Chapter 11 | |
| What Youíre Selling and What Investors Are Buying: Capitalize on Investor Psychology | |
| Human Nature | |
| Investor Secrets | |
| The Bottom Line | |
| Dilution and the Economics of Investing | |
| The Proper Reaction to Investor Interest | |
Chapter 12 | |
| Teaming Up with AOL for Love and Money: A Case Study | |
| The Introductory Pitch | |
| The Big Pitch | |
| Key Ingredients | |
Chapter 13 | |
| The Best Investor Relations Approach for You | |
| Meeting Investors | |
| Impressing Investors | |
| Negotiating Effectively | |
| And What About That Plan? | |
| Appendix | |
| Summary of Professional Investor Research | |
| Appendix II | |
| Research Study of Business Planning | |
| Appendix III | |
| What All Business Plans Must Cover | |
| Index | |